Vet advice to help a horse overcome a fear of needles
Every horse will need an injection from time to time, but some are so petrified of needles that they put themselves and their handlers at risk. Vet Mark Bowen explains why some horses are needle shy and how you can help them overcome their phobia
HORSES WHO ARE needle shy can be a significant risk to themselves, their handlers and their vets, even when they are only undergoing routine procedures. In worst case scenarios, their owners may try to avoid the personal stress and distress altogether by not calling in the vet if that is a possible option. This can lead to an avoidance of routine healthcare, including vaccinations, which places the horse at risk of preventable diseases. Intramuscular injections (into the muscles of the neck, chest or rump) usually cause much less pain and distress than intravenous injections (into the vein). Therefore, when managed correctly, routine vaccination into muscle can provide a valuable opportunity to address needle shyness through behavioural modification techniques.
There are a number of occasions when your horse will require an injection. It’s not just preventative care, such as booster vaccinations; in emergencies — colic, for example — your horse may need urgent treatment that includes intravenous injections and these can cause severe needle reactions, complicating treatment or placing him at an increased risk of injury during an already high-risk period. In these kind of situations, there isn’t time to address the horse’s behaviour. This needs to be done when the horse is fit and healthy and it will reduce the risks should he become sick. Horses become needle shy due to learned behaviours and these are reinforced by subsequent failed injection attempts. Although all injections can be painful, the pain is brief and shouldn’t cause the intense response observed in a needle-shy horse. Much of that learning is not only associated with the pain of the injection, but a range of other emotional and stressful situations too which make your horse respond in a way that can eventually become dangerous. Adverse behaviours can be made worse still if the horse is given ill-timed rewards that inadvertently encourage repetition of the behaviour. Initially, the reward for a horse moving away from a needle is the removal of the needle from the skin. This may result in the horse being given treats during the injection to distract him, but if he continues to move away, the food reward simply reinforces the adverse behaviour. This can be amplified further if more extreme methods of restraint are used — in such cases, the horse will associate the injection process with ever higher levels of stress.